'Fifth Gear' to relaunch as an electronic vehicle show
If the current fuel crisis has left you wondering whether it's better to choose an electronic vehicle instead, you won't want to miss the relaunch of Fifth Gear which has gone fully electric.
The motoring show, which previously ran for 28 seasons first on Channel 5 and then on Discovery before being canned two years ago, will be revived as Fifth Gear: Recharged and will concentrate solely on electric vehicles.
Read more: Top Gear to move to new home in Bristol for 2022
It has signed up Rory Reid as host, a driving expert who presented Top Gear from 2016 to 2019, and he will be joined on screen by Jason Plato, Vicki Butler-Henderson, former Formula 1 driver Karun Chandhok, consumer journalist Grace Webb and engineer Jimmy de Ville.
Fifth Gear executive Neil Duncanson told Deadline that he didn't view the show's total overhaul as a risk because of the direction the motoring market was heading in.
He said: “Almost every car manufacturer in the world has bet their house on electric so this seemed like a sensible thing to do rather than a massive leap of faith.
“Electric was a byline in the original Fifth Gear but now internal combustion engines would be a byline. We are reflecting changing attitudes and audience behaviour.”
Giving an idea of what viewers could expect from the reboot, Duncanson added that it would hopefully answer a lot of consumer questions about the practicalities of driving an electric vehicle.
He said: “We’ve always tried to do education by stealth and I think that’s what we’ve achieved with this show. People want to know what happens when their EV runs out of juice or how to get a charger installed in their house, and we are a trusted resource.”
Fifth Gear: Recharged will stream weekly episodes on Discovery+, as well as airing them on channel Quest, beginning later this year.
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